Reflection:

• This week, I was introduced to new comic theories that lay a foundational base for some of my favorite comedy media. Unlike the incongruity theory, the release theory explains that laughter acts as a relief agent to vent pressure out of the nervous system (Audissino 2023). However, I will concentrate on the benign violation theory, which set up most of the existing comedy forms (gags, silence/visual, slapstick, and so on). In short, benign violation concentrates on two essential factors: the violation of norms and the acceptance of that violation (Warren and McGraw 2015). Violation is not necessarily a negative threat to physical well-being though some successful comedies have used this factor. Violation can be the deviation from any kind of norm (social, cultural, linguistic) which leads to critical appraisal in daily settings (Warren and McGraw 2015). However, that violation has to adapt to the second factor – acceptance. Depending on the segregation in norms, we might feel the acceptance differently to another group of people. That’s why a pun, wordplay, or sarcasm might not be suitable for every circumstance. We can detect the theoretical application in the silent comedy The High Sign by Buster Keaton (1921). The lead character played by Buster has a sense of luck that although he was hit, stumbled, and physically contacted – he seems to go through any obstacle and nothing happens. In the scene where he plays the shooting game, it is absurd that his performance is not feasible, but its absurdity is building up the laughter. Coincidentally, it leads to a new theory which we call the logic of absurdity (Palmer 2018). Every simple comedy action will boil down to a unilateral syllogism, though comic absurdity sometimes does not follow that essence. The unexplained action will build up until it reaches the peripeteia stage – a shock/surprise that changes the narrative (Nick and Matt 2018). Now, what seems implausible will be transposed to the realm of the animate or what I might call: “It is the film anyway so it makes sense”. We independently find a way to explain the contradictory syllogism by picking the logical elements exposed across the comedy. 
• My media artifact responds to the concept of benign violation. Without using language/dialogue, I want to recreate a scene of playing poker. I want to levitate the tension of the silent atmosphere to distract the viewers from the game’s informality. Many easter eggs will stem across the sketch to illustrate the informality by how characters dress, and sign language. The peripeteia will crack up to expose the absurdity as the player thinks he deceives everyone with his cheating but it is too dumb to reveal it.
• I have incorporated peer feedback by reflecting on my artifact again and finding similar media to improve on my sketch. They have given me helpful tips on building up the plot and allocating the desirable punchline to deliver the joke more effectively.

Reference:

Audissino (2023) From Dionysia to Hollywood: An Introduction to Comedy’s Long (and Bumpy) Road, 1st edn, Springer International Publishing AG, Cham.

Nick and Matt S (2018) The Logic of Absurd, 1st edn, Austin: University of Texas Press, Texas.

Warren C and McGraw A (2015) Benign Violation Theory, Mays Business School Research, Los Angeles.

Link to video